Method and apparatus for language learning via controlled text authoring

• US 7,717,712 B2
• Filed: 12/19/2003
• Issued: 05/18/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/19/2003
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: Dymetman, Marc, Brun, Caroline
• Primary Examiner(s): Mosser; Kathleen
• Assistant Examiner(s): Hu; Kang
• Application Number:
  US10/739,178
• Publication Number:
  US 20050137847A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,342 Days
• Field of Search: 434/156, 434/157, 434/167, 434/169, 434/353, 434/350, 434/322, 434/176, 434/177, 434/323, 434/324, 434/325, 434/332, 704/1, 704/4
• US Class Current: 434/156
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/253 Grammatical analysis; Style critique
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 19/06 Foreign languages with audible presentation of material to be studied G09B5/04
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 7/00 Electrically-operated teaching apparatus or devices working with questions and answers mechanically operated G09B3/00; computing arrangements G06F

Abstract

A method for testing a language learner'"'"'s ability to create semantically coherent grammatical text in a language, comprising generating text having at least one active region and inactive regions; displaying the text in a graphical user interface on a display unit, wherein at least one active region comprises a key word or phrase; identifying at least one active region in the graphical user interface; selecting at least one active region to display a menu of linguistic choices comprised of at least one grammatically correct linguistic choice and at least one grammatically incorrect linguistic choice; selecting one of the linguistic choices; and displaying an error message when at least one grammatically incorrect linguistic choice is selected.

Claims

1. A method for language learning, the method implemented on a computing device, the method comprising:

retrieving text from a memory of the computing device;

replacing each of at least two different portions of the text with a corresponding key word or phrase;

displaying the text having the at least two key words or phrases in a graphical user interface to a learner using the computing device, the text having at least two active regions, each active region corresponding to a respective one of the at least two key words or phrases, wherein the active regions each comprise the respective one of the key words or phrases;

selecting, by the learner from an input of the computing device, a first active region of the active regions by selecting a corresponding first key word or phrase of the key words or phrases;

displaying, on the computing device, a first menu of linguistic choices in response to the selected first key word or phrase, each key word or phrase having an associated menu, each key word or phrase representing a type of answer selection in the associating menu, the linguistic choices for each menu comprising at least two linguistically correct choices and a linguistically incorrect choice;

selecting, by the learner, one of the linguistic choices in the first menu;

providing an error message, to the learner and through the graphical user interface, at the time of selection, when an incorrect linguistic choice is selected, the error message comprising an explanation as to why the selection is incorrect; and

when a correct linguistic choice is selected in the step of selecting, by the learner, one of the linguistic choices, the method further comprises;

replacing the first key word or phrase with the selected linguistic choice by the computing device,

causing linguistic choices in a second menu associated with another of the active regions in the text to change corresponding to the selected correct choice from the first active region,

selecting, by the learner, the another of the active regions and displaying the second menu associated therewith,

selecting, by the learner, a linguistic choice in the second menu,

determining, by the computing device, whether the linguistic choice selected from the second menu is linguistically compatible with the linguistic choice selected from the first menu of the first active region, and

providing another error message when the linguistic choice selected from each of the remaining active regions is incompatible with the linguistic choice selected from the menu of previously selected menu choices, and

wherein the active regions correspond to a choice of content of the text that needs to be made by a language learner.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein

the text is a single literary unit, and

displaying the text in the graphical user interface comprises displaying a plurality of active regions in the text, each active region comprising a different key word or phrase.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein

the text is a single literary unit, and

the step of displaying the text comprises displaying at least one of a phrase, a sentence, a paragraph, a poem, a sonnet, a song, a story, a lyric, a novel, a composition and an expression.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the linguistically correct choices are each a choice that is at least one of semantically, grammatically, and syntactically correct.

5. A system for language learning, comprising:

a memory that stores text;

a computing device that retrieves the text from the memory, and replaces each of at least two portions of the text with a corresponding key word or phrase;

a display device that displays the text having the at least two key words or phrases in a graphical user interface to a learner using the computing device, wherein the text includes a plurality of active regions, each active region corresponding to a different one of the at least two key words or phrases, each active region being associated with a corresponding menu of linguistic choices, each key word or phrase representing a type of answer selection in the associating menu, the linguistic choices for each menu comprising at least two correct choices and at least one incorrect choice;

an input device that enables a language learner to select a first active region of the active regions by selecting the corresponding key word or phrase of the first active region;

an output device that displays a first menu of linguistic choices of the menus in response to the selection of the first active region, the first menu corresponding to the first active regions, displays an error message when a linguistically incorrect choice is selected, the error message comprising an explanation as to why the selection is incorrect;

wherein the computing device replaces the key word or phrase associated with the first active region with the selected linguistic choice when a correct linguistic choice is selected;

wherein selection of a linguistically correct choice in the first menu of linguistic choices corresponding to the first active region causes linguistic choices in a second menu of linguistic choices corresponding to another of the active regions to change;

wherein the input device enables a language learner to select a second active region of the active regions by selecting the corresponding key word or phrase of the second active region;

wherein the output device displays a second menu of linguistic choices of the menus in response to the selection of the second active region, the second menu corresponding to the second active region;

wherein the computing device determines when a linguistic choice selected from the second menu is linguistically incompatible with the linguistic choice selected from the first menu;

wherein each active region corresponds to a choice of content of the text that needs to be made by the language learner;

wherein the output device displays another error message when the linguistic choice selected from each of the remaining active regions is linguistically incompatible with the linguistic choice selected from the menu of previously selected menu choices.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein each menu has a plurality of linguistically incorrect choices.

7. The system of claim 5, wherein each menu has a plurality of linguistically correct choices and a plurality of linguistically incorrect choices.

8. The system of claim 5, wherein the text is a single literary unit.

9. The system of claim 5, wherein

the text is a single literary unit, and

the text is at least one of a phrase, a sentence, a paragraph, a poem, a sonnet, a song, a story, a lyric, a novel, a composition and an expression.

10. A computer program product comprising a computer readable medium having computer readable instructions embodied therein for causing a computer to provide language learning for a language learner, the instructions comprising:

instructions for causing the computer to retrieve stored text;

instructions for causing the computer to replace each of at least two portions of the text with a corresponding key word or phrase;

instructions for causing the computer to display the text having the at least two key words or phrases with a plurality of active regions, each active region corresponding to a different one of the at least two key words or phrases, each active region being associated with a corresponding menu of linguistic choices, each keyword or phrase representing a type of answer selection in the associated menu, the linguistic choices of each menu comprising at least two correct choices and at least one incorrect choice;

instructions for causing the computer to enable a language learner to select a first active region of the active regions by selecting the corresponding key word or phrase of the first active region;

instructions for causing the computer to display a first menu of linguistic choices corresponding to the key word or phrase of the first active region in response to the language learner selecting the key word or phrase of the first active region;

instructions for causing the computer to enable the language learner to select one of the linguistic choices in the first menu;

instructions for causing the computer to provide an error message when a linguistically incorrect choice is selected, the error message comprising explanation as to why the selection was incorrect;

instructions for causing the computer to replace the key word or phrase of the first active region with the selected linguistic choice when a correct linguistic choice is made;

instructions for causing linguistic choices in a second menu associated with another of the active regions in the text to change corresponding to the selected correct choice from the first active region;

instructions for causing the computer to enable a language learner to select the another of the active regions by selecting the corresponding key word or phrase of the another active region;

instructions for causing the computer to display the second menu of linguistic choices corresponding to the key word or phrase of the another active region in response to the language learner selecting the keyword or phrase of the second active region;

instructions for causing the computer to enable the language learner to select one of the linguistic choice in the second menu; and

instructions for determining when a linguistic choice selected from a second menu is linguistically incompatible with the linguistic choice selected from the first menu,

wherein each active region corresponds to a choice of content of the text that needs to be made by the language learner, and

wherein another error message is provided when the linguistic choice selected from each of the remaining active regions is linguistically incompatible with the linguistic choice selected from the menu of previously selected menu choices.

11. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein each menu has a plurality of linguistically incorrect choices.

12. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein each menu has a plurality of linguistically correct choices and a plurality of linguistically incorrect linguistic choices.

13. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein

the text is a single literary unit, and

the text is one of a phrase, a sentence, a paragraph, a poem, a sonnet, a song, a story, a lyric, a novel, a composition, and an expression.